Brianna Lenehan is never satisfied, and Norwich Free Academy coach Chad Johnson believes that is one of the ingredients that makes her such an incredible runner.

On March 9, when NFA’s sprint medley relay team posted a time of 4 minutes, 1.84 seconds — the second fastest time in the country — at the New Balance National Indoor Track and Field Championship and were the first athletes from the school to ever be named All-Americans, Johnson described MiaLynne Park, Dyshelle Pemberton and Camille McKenzie as being ecstatic.

Lenehan was thinking about how she could’ve been first.

“She was happy, but I could also tell that as happy as she was to get All-American and second in the country, she was running down that Hillhouse girl and another 50 meters and she would’ve had her. I could tell that she was wishing she had gotten her,” Johnson said. “That’s the thing with Brianna. She never gets into that satisfied mode. As soon as she’s comfortable where she’s at and successful where she’s at, she’s always looking at that next goal.”

Johnson later said he didn’t think that school-record time would ever be broken.

“Second was awesome,” Lenehan said, “but looking back at the race and how close we were to Hillhouse, who was in front of us, you wish you could’ve pushed a little more.”

Maybe Lenehan, the All-Bulletin girls indoor track athlete of the year, just isn’t used to finishing second. After winning the State Open to end the fall cross-country season, Lenehan carried that momentum into the winter. She broke five school records, shattered the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship record in the 1,600, and took first in the 1,000 and 1,600 at the Class LL state championships and second and fourth, respectively, in the events at the State Open. She also was fourth in the 1,600 at the New England Championships.

Lenehan said her favorite accomplishment was the ECC record in the 1,600. Meghan Owen’s time of 5:00.54 stood since 2002 before Lenehan came through with a time of 5:00.37 this winter at the Coast Guard Academy to lead the Wildcats to the Large Division title.

“She really took it to another level this season,” Johnson said. “We had a point in the middle of the season, she went to the Dartmouth Invite and ran a 5:01 (in the 1,600) on Saturday and came back on Tuesday and ran a 2:53 in the 1,000 — which was the third fastest time in the country — and then came back Saturday and ran 2:12 for the 800 at the Yale Invite — which was No. 8 in the country. That was three school records in one week’s time in three different races, in three different meets.

“A lot of people don’t realize it but from about that point on, she was nursing some Achilles tendonitis at that point in the season, and just kind of fought on,” Johnson said.

Page 2 of 2 - That’s scary. Even scarier is that she isn’t done. She still has her final outdoor season to complete before she heads to Columbia University in the fall, to run and major in economics.

“I’m still processing it,” Lenehan said. “It is kind of cool to look back on, and I just hope that I have just as much success, or even more in the outdoor season.”